Tire performance is an important concern. Among manufacturers and developers of tires and vehicles that use tires, as well as others, tire characteristics and tire tread characteristics are of substantial interest.
One area of study is concerned with how tread features, such as lugs, grooves, gaps, sipes, convolutions, ribs, and/or flutes, may affect tread characteristics and/or tire performance.
It remains desirable to provide tread features, such as sipes, that affect tire performance.